“She can do it. So, I can do it”: the motivations behind watching StudyTube

StudyTubers are students who produce videos on social media to share their experiences at university. StudyTube is a growing phenomenon on social media. However, there is limited literature exploring StudyTube and even less literature on why people watch it. Thus, this dissertation addresses the gap in the literature, exploring the motivations behind watching StudyTube. Using a qualitative research method, the data from 21 interviews was thematically analysed, producing the themes of motivation, relatability, and advice. A questionnaire was distributed to collect the participants’ demographics and characteristics. The findings show participants watch StudyTube: (a) to motivate themselves, (b) because they relate to the StudyTubers, and (c) to obtain information. These findings are important because StudyTube can be used by students to motivate themselves to study or apply to prestigious universities. Moreover, StudyTubers can help participants feel less alone when studying virtually with them. Additionally, prospective university students can use StudyTube to learn information about universities, including the application process

Subjective experiences of compulsory treatment from a qualitative study of early implementation of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment)(Scotland) Act 2003

Compulsory psychiatric treatment is highly contested, and little research has focused specifically on direct experiences. The Mental Health (Care & Treatment) (Scotland) Act, 2003 introduced new roles and provisions including community treatment orders, and was designed to increase participation, ensure treatment was beneficial and was the ‘least restrictive’ alternative. This article draws on findings from semistructured interviews with 49 individuals who had experienced compulsion under this new legislation during 2007-08, that were part of a broader cohort study. Interviews with service users were conducted at two stages with 80% agreeing to be interviewed twice. The sample included people on a variety of compulsory orders from four Health Board areas, some of whom had been detained for the first time, while others reported ‘revolving door’ experiences. Peer researchers who were mental health service users carried out the interviews with professional researchers. The findings suggest that legislation had a limited impact on participation in the process of compulsion. Consensus was that although service users felt there was increased opportunity for their voices to be heard, this was not matched by having increased influence over professional decision-making, especially in relation to drug treatments. According to people's direct experiences, the passing of the legislation in itself had done little to change the dominant psychiatric paradigm. While providing a foundation for improving the process of compulsion, the findings suggest that as well as legislative reform, fundamental shifts in practice are needed both in terms of the nature of therapeutic relationships, and in embracing more holistic and recovery perspectives

U.S. Foreign Policy, 1959-80: Impact on Refugee Flow from Cuba

Migration from Cuba to the United States since Castro assumed power, and the haracterization of those leaving as refugees, have been strongly affected by U.S. foreign policy concerns. During the 1959-62 migration wave, particularly prior to the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Cubans were welcomed as temporary exiles, likely to topple Castro and return home. The second major migration wave began in 1965, in the midst of a U.S. campaign for systematically isolating and economically depriving Cuba and its citizens. When thousands of those citizens left Cuba, primarily to improve their economic circumstances and rejoin family members, they were welcomed as refugees because of the symbolic value of their rejection of Latin America\u27s only communist state. The third migration wave occurred in 1980, after a decade of detente and gradually improving U.S.-Cuban relations. It served no clear U.S. foreign policy ends and was perceived as helping Cuba rid itself of undesirables. Consequently those arriving received little public support

Cinematic and photographic aesthetics in the novels of J.M. Coetzee

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (English)This thesis will examine the extensive cinematic and photographic visuality inscribed in the fictions of J. M. Coetzee. Coetzee's prose is inflected by a complex intermediality that references media aesthetics, practices, and genres, as well as creating linkages to specific film texts. This study will examine a range of Coetzee's writings but will pay particular attention to his second novel In the Heart of the Country (1977), which will be used as a lens to explore the visuality of Coetzee's earlier and later fictions. In the Heart of the Country, it will be shown, employs innovative film techniques that reflect the influence of 1960s avant-garde cinema, with strong ties to two films in particular: Andrzej Munk's Pasaerka (1963), and Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville (1965). A comparative analysis of the novel with Coetzee's unrealised screenplay adaptation will be used to show that these cinematic influences extend to narrative experimentation and theoretical engagements with time. This will be followed by an intensive exploration of the cinematographic aesthetic in Life & Times of Michael K (1983). Coetzee's two Karoo novels, it will be shown, employ film effects to a degree that sets them apart from his other fictions, rendering these texts as cinematographic counterparts. The study of photography will then examine how Coetzee's theoretical understanding of the image enables him to utilise and extend the narrative power of the photographic medium in three ways: by inscribing important narratives within individual images, by employing the photograph as a method of characterisation, and by simulating the photographic processes of capture and development during key narrative events. Although this exploration of photography will reference several of Coetzee's fictions, analysis will focus predominantly on Dusklands (1974), In the Heart of the Country, and Slow Man (2005)

The future of mental health nursing: are we barking up the wrong tree?

This commentary has been prompted by a degree of disquiet among the UK mental health nursing community in response to the Shape of Caring Review on the future of nurse education in England (Willis 2015). Proposals for the structure of nurse education have been interpreted as emphasizing generic at the expense of field-specific (e.g. mental health) education, with much specialist training beyond the scope of pre-registration courses (Lintern 2014, Middleton 2015). Specifically, there is a suggestion that student nurses will not enter their specialized field until completing two years of more generalist learning; reminiscent of the previous Project 2000 approach, criticized for supposed inadequate preparation of mental health students because general adult nursing dominated curriculum and teaching (UKCC 1999)

Recovery-based staff training intervention within mental health rehabilitation units: A two-stage analysis using realistic evaluation principles and framework approach

Background - Long-term change in recovery-based practice in mental health rehabilitation is a research priority. Methods - We used a qualitative case study analysis using a blend of traditional 'framework' analysis and 'realist' realist principles toapproaches to carry-out an evaluation of a recovery-focused staff training intervention within three purposively selected mental health rehabilitation units. We tried to ensure the validity of the data by using triangulation of multiple data sources and were collected using different methods. Results - We found that organisational culture and embedding of a change management programme in routine practice were reported as key influences to sustain any change in practice. The qualitative study generated 10 recommendations on how to achieve long-term change in practice including dealing with pre-existing organisational and cultural problems in NHS units. Conclusions - We would propose that a recovery-focused staff training intervention requires leadership, continuity and integration with existing change management programme for long-term change. The intervention must be embedded into routine practice for sustainability